1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an addresser-information display unit for retrieving the information for an addresser previously stored in accordance with the addresser information communicated from a communication network such as a telephone network and displaying the information and a display method for displaying addresser-related information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The originating telephone number display service has been known so far as the service for a telephone subscriber by a telephone company. The service communicates addresser information to a termination terminal unit from a communication network to make a termination terminal unit display the addresser information. Various applications using the addresser-information communicating service are devised. For example, there is an application to be applied to a terminal unit such as a personal computer. According to the application, when a call reaches a terminal unit from the addresser side of a network and addresser information is communicated from the network, the terminal unit retrieves the detailed information for the addresser out of the storage circuit of the terminal unit in accordance with the addresser information. Moreover, the detailed information that is the retrieval result is popup-displayed on a screen. According to the application, a terminal-unit operator can immediately obtain the detailed information for the addresser when a call is supplied from a network.
The official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-32703 issued on Feb. 2, 1996 discloses an addresser retrieval system to be set in a fire station. The addresser retrieval system receives an addresser ID from the switchboard of a network when a call is received, retrieves a data base in accordance with the addresser ID, and displays detailed information such as the name and address of the addresser on a display unit.
Object of the Invention
When a terminal unit is an exclusive terminal for obtaining the detailed information of an addresser (addresser information retrieval system) or an exclusive terminal used to perform any service in accordance with obtained detailed information, the above application is convenient. However, in the case of a terminal unit frequently used to run a program for controlling a network and simultaneously start and execute other application software, the above application is inconvenient for an operator.
For example, when a call is received from a network and addresser information is communicated, the program of a terminal unit obtains a window focus in order to display the addresser information and the detailed information for the addresser and popup-displays the detailed information for the addresser or displays the information on the entire screen. As a result, the operation or processing of other application software then executed is interrupted.
For example, when the detailed information for the addresser is popup-displayed, it is impossible to execute other application software again before the popup display state is canceled by an input device such as a keyboard or mouse. Moreover, even if the detailed information is displayed on the entire screen, the display switching operation by the input device is necessary.
Furthermore, when pluralities of terminal units set in an office share one telephone line or more, the following problem occurs if each terminal unit allows an addresser telephone number to be displayed. That is, when a call is received, the detailed information for an addresser is displayed on the screens of all terminal units though it is enough to display the detailed information only on a certain terminal unit. As a result, the detailed information for an addresser is displayed on a terminal unit not requiring the information and the operation or processing of other application software executed by the terminal is interrupted.
As described above, there has been a problem that other application is interrupted by displaying the addresser-related information read out of a storage circuit in addition to the addresser information communicated from a network when a call is received.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication system capable of displaying addresser-related information in addition to the addresser information communicated from a network when a call is received without influencing other application software under use when the call is received from the network.
Summary of the Invention
A communication system of the present invention is connected to a network for receiving addresser information to make it possible to display information related to the received addresser information. The communication system includes a storage medium for storing the information related to addresser information and a control circuit. The control circuit controls display to display a first window for the first processing to be executed by an application program. Further, the control circuit retrieves first relevant information related to the addresser information out of the storage medium when the addresser information is received from a network, and controls the display to display the first relevant information in a second window having a display priority higher than that of the first window while keeping a window focus in the first window.
Another communication system of the present invention includes a storage medium for storing the information related to addresser information and a control circuit for displaying a first window for first processing to be executed by an application program, retrieving the first relevant information related to the addresser information out of the storage medium when the addresser information is received from a network, and controlling the display to display the first relevant information in a tool-bar-type second window different from the first window.
In the above invention, when a second window or an addresser-information form is displayed, a focus window is kept in the first window. Therefore, it is possible to display the necessary and minimum addresser information without influencing the first processing based on an application program currently used when a call is received.
The present invention is further provided with an input device for a display request, in which a control circuit retrieves the detailed information related to addresser information out of a storage medium in accordance with a display request from the input device and displays the retrieved detailed information in a third window. Thereby, it is possible to know the detailed information related to addresser according to necessity.
The present invention further provides a display method for displaying the information related to addresser information communicated from a network for communicating the addresser information to a termination side. The display method prepares a storage medium for storing the information related to addresser information, displays a first window for the first processing to be executed by an application program, retrieves the first relevant information related to addresser information out of the storage medium when the addresser information is received from a network, and displays the first relevant information in an addresser-information form different from the first window while keeping a window focus in the first window.